“A little swim won’t do me no harm,” he snarled, and he sounded a little too excited about the prospect.

Come to think of it, the captain did draft up the tally board with the same glee he crossed things off his checklists.

The crew parted like a crowd of ballet dancers for a tutu’d protagonist, and filed into line behind him to watch with gawking horror.

The captain was dragging him by his collar. He stumbled behind him, trying to keep his feet under him. For a man that old, he was surprisingly strong.

He'd successfully pickpocketed a few people in the market square. A knocked-out victim should have been easy as pie. Why did his luck have to fail him, today of all days?

How far were they from shore right now, anyway?

He watched the crowd parting around him with horror. He tried to make eye contact with Robert or John, but they looked away.

"Please, captain, sir," Bill said again. "I'll - I'll work for free, if you'll only have mercy on me."

He paused, at though to think about it, then crinkled his nose in a mean smile. And then he chucked Bill from collar and pants – like he was a duffel bag – into the sea.

Bill fell as if in slow motion, powerless to do anything to stop the impending belly-flop.

He hit the water hard, the smack knocking the wind out of him, and sank a few feet. He choked and struggled, trying to keep from sinking too far, finally kicking off his too-big boots and kicking hard to lift himself back to the surface.

Finally, his head broke the surface of the cold water, and he spat out a few salty mouthfuls and began to tread water.

Thankfully, he could just make out the landmarks on shore. If he just swam straight toward shore, he'd end up on Whitby beach. He'd swum a mile before on a dare; what was a couple more? He could swim all day if he wanted to.


Two hours later, he was turning blue, all his muscles were locked up tight from the cold, and he barely managed to pull himself onto the sand. The sun would be going down soon.

He looked around, shivering, and saw the lights on in a cottage on the beach...